Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars

In this stark memoir, combat journalist Godwin (The Fear) muses on the links between his high-stress work and his rocky personal life. Godwin was born in colonial Zimbabwe in 1957, when the country was roiled by civil war. When he was six, his parents sent him to a boarding school to keep him safe. He hated it there, and developed intense animosity for his parents when they kept him enrolled despite his protestations. In coping with that anger, Godwin developed a knack for emotional compartmentalization that helped him in his career as a war correspondent. The “controlled schizophrenia” he developed by detaching from the daily horrors he reported on led to predictable consequences: “drinking and drugs, depression and divorce.” Much of the account explores how those struggles intersected with the end of Godwin’s marriage and his attempts to reconcile with his 90-year-old mother before her death. In both cases, he eschews simple answers, writing that “too many farewells may have broken me, so that I no longer have a coherent character,” though stints in therapy have helped him better understand his emotional defenses. Godwin’s eloquence and bracing candor make this more than a mere pity party. It’s a nuanced and fearless self-portrait. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (Apr.)